But the BBC reports he has been increasingly critical of the ruling party in recent years.

In 2011, he accused the ANC government of "kowtowing" to China, after the government delayed issuing a visa for the Dalai Lama, who had been invited to attend the archbishop's 80th birthday celebrations.

In the opinion piece, he also warned South Africa to prepare for Nelson Mandela's death.

"My concern is that we are not preparing ourselves, as a nation, for the time when the inevitable happens."

"He's 94, he's had a rough time, and God has been very, very good in sparing him for us these many years.

''But the trauma of his passing is going to be very much intensified if we do not begin to prepare ourselves for the fact that this is going to happen at some time," he added.